Combining Proto-Scandinavian loanword strata in South Saami with the Early Iron Age archaeological material of Jämtland and Dalarna, Sweden

Abstract

In this article, I will examine South Saami prehistory from the perspectives of archaeology and historical lexicology. I will present a theoretical model that can be applied to a multidisciplinary research that uses methodologies from both the sciences and test it using South Saami material. My linguistic data consists of North-West Germanic and Early Proto-Scandinavian loanwords in South Saami. These loanword strata can be dated to 1–550 CE. I will make an inventory of the semantic categories of the words in the loanword strata to see from which domains words were borrowed. I will also examine the prominent individual words that might have significance as intercultural markers. The archaeological material used in the research includes hunting ground graves, iron manufacturing sites and dwelling sites in Dalarna and Jämtland, Sweden. I will consider remain types, artefact finds and remain structures dated to 1–550 CE. Only those sites that have been excavated will be included in the data. I will correlate the lexical finds with the archaeological find groups in order to examine what the datasets together reveal about contacts between the South Saami and Scandinavian speakers. The combination of archaeological and lexical research gives new advantages and perspectives to the study of prehistory. The study brings new evidence for the prior hypothesis about South Saami speakers as domestic animal herders. The combination of the sciences also reveals that the earliest hunting ground graves should be considered to have belonged to a non-Saami speaking Paleo-European people.

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